A goal accomplished always makes me happy. Reading A Pillar of Iron, Taylor Caldwell's fictional biography of Marcus Tullius Cicero, was not a goal of mine. But once started, it was a battle between me and the book and I was determined to finish it!
It's actually a great book. Cicero was a contemporary of Julius Caesar, a lawyer, philosopher, and statesman of Rome. The story is fascinating; Caldwell delves heavily into original materials like Cicero's letters, books, and speeches; and her descriptions make ancient Rome lifelike. But it is dense! And long -- 700 pages.
I'd like to amend my law school transcript to get extra credit in Constitutional Law.
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NOTES
A Pillar of Iron counts as one of my books for the Chunkster Challenge, as well as knocking another one off my TBR challenges list.
I read this over 35 years ago (I am a young 63 ;-)!). Thank you for the memory. I am a closet Classicist, so I love good novels from this period. I can recommend Lindsey Davis and Ruth Downey unreservedly. Happy reading.
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ReplyDeleteMy sister read this one years ago. At the time, I didn't read it. Too young to appreciate the value. Now I would love to read it. Taylor Caldwell was a great author. This seems like a good pick for your Chunkster challenge.
ReplyDeleteI love books like this--definitely going on my to-read list. I have been dipping into those 1970's authors lately--I like to support current authors but the older guys paved the way!
ReplyDeleteI really loved Imperium, by Robert Harris--also about Cicero.